Before 1882 when Jews began to arrive in Palestine, there were no Jews living in Palestine at all!
In 1920, the British Government’s Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine stated that there were hardly 700,000 people living in Palestine. The Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40 years. Prior to 1850 there were in the country only a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years a few hundreds came to Palestine
Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief. 30th July, 1921.